Leviathan, the winner of this year's Samuel Johnson prize, is a monster of a book which takes in the history, lore and science of the whale. Philip Hoare tells how a lifelong fear of water played its part in his fascination with the world's biggest mammals.

He recounts the story of the whale skeleton that inspired Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, which was recently dug up after lying for more than a century beneath the grounds of a Yorkshire stately home.

He also explains why we shouldn't be too quick to condemn the Japanese for whaling, and reveals some surprising whale products that are still in use today.